LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
HOLY ORDERS AND REWARD
SiR,—Your correspondent, " A Churchwarden," draws one picture of our Ministry. Permit me to submit another. As the son of a clergyman, the father of a clergyman, and having myself spent 5o years in Holy Orders, I claim that, with all its frequent humiliations, there is no life for one moment to compare, whether for usefulness or satisfaction, with that of a clergyman in the Church of England. Among my Cambridge contemporaries I count many who have passed on to entrancing careers in the public. service. Four have become judges ; others have become eminent as administrators, schoolmasters, civil servants, business men. Not a few have been knighted. With not one would I change places.
Our profession being what it is—that of shepherds of souls, that of educators in things eternal—it is impossible to compare it with any other. But as to our material things, which which " A Churchwarden " is primarily concerned, it is only natural that in a system embedded in some thirteen centuries of English history there are certain anomalies of which both he and we are painfully aware! Yet we are continually at work revising and redistributing our resources to the utmost of our power. He asks: " Is there any system of inspection and report on the work of the parish clergy? " Let me at once reply that in our diocese every parish priest is known to his bishop, and that at our regular staff meet- ings each in turn is considered on his merits as fresh appointments have to be made. Everything is done to make the best use of our available "man-power." What few know is the number of those who decline to accept the offers that are made to them! In those rural areas, about which our " Churchwarden " is rightly solicitous, the amalgamation of benefices could go much further to promote both adequate work and adequate remuneration were it not for our sensitive regard to the protests of the laity involVed. History again and again points to the fact that nothing matters more to a nation than the quality of its spiritual leader- ship. The besi minds in every age should be ambitious to train for the Christian Ministry ; and every encouragement should be given to those prepared to face the discipline and the cost of this most delicate and arduous task. What is needed at Mil critical hour is not to bewail the insufficiency of its earthly rewards, but rather to point to the amazing openings it offers to the highest kind of service to humanity.—I am, Sir,
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